Question Regarding Exports

[mrbelvedere]

Hello, hope everyone is having a great day. I would also like to ask this forum a quick question and would very much appreciate your response. What I am thinking about doing is going to Thailand for 1-2 months and trying to find clothing at a good price. I would then mail it back to the US. I was considering using the 10kg Fedex boxes (maybe 25kg box?), but am not sure how customs works. Would I be ok just throwing 100 shirts in a box and sending it through Fedex, or are there forms I have to fill out? I have searched all over and can't seem to find a straightforward answer. Thank you very much for your time and knowledge. Tony

[solo siam]

Only thing you could really make any sort of money on is fakes, Can't see it particularly easy to get them into teh USA myself.

[Sateev]

Hello, hope everyone is having a great day. I would also like to ask this forum a quick question and would very much appreciate your response. What I am thinking about doing is going to Thailand for 1-2 months and trying to find clothing at a good price. I would then mail it back to the US. I was considering using the 10kg Fedex boxes (maybe 25kg box?), but am not sure how customs works. Would I be ok just throwing 100 shirts in a box and sending it through Fedex, or are there forms I have to fill out? I have searched all over and can't seem to find a straightforward answer. Thank you very much for your time and knowledge. Tony

One of the few things on which the US has a quota is textiles and clothing. 100 shirts would raise the hackles on Customs' neck, for sure. Fakes might get you in a lot of trouble.

FEDEX, and all other carriers will require a Customs form. Lying on it is NOT a good idea, unless you're prepared to prove that your 100 shirts are for personal, use.

Sateev

[Smithson]

There are no longer quotas on textiles to the US, this has been gone for about 2yrs. You are unlikely to get away with sending copy stuff via FedEx and even if you did there would only be a small profit.

Check ebay for the amount of copy gear being sold and check the prices.

[xbusman]

Back to your questions.

When you ship fedex or Thai postal system, you will fill out a US customs declaration stating the contents and value of the materials in the box. When it gets to the States, depending on what you declared, you might have duties. The only way to know for sure is to look it up in the Harmonized Schedule which you can find here ----> US Customs website

The above process will not be a problem. However, many goods are prohibited entry or tightly regulated and could get confiscated and destroyed. Violations of Intellectual Property rights is one area that is not tolerated as mentioned above. There is a host of regulatory laws that you have to be aware of for each product such as cigarette lighters have to meet standards set by the Consumer Protection Agency. That homework is tough to do and best left to a US broker who is familiar with such things.

If you send fedex, you probably have about a 30% chance that your package will be examined. I think Fedex has an internal process that facilitates Customs to at least make sure the declaration is accurate. If you send it Thai postal, I think your chances of having it examined is quite low.

Here is a friendly tip however, dont send yourself anything that might be a problem. If you do, and they confiscate your contraband, be assured your name ends up on some Border Security computer for decades to come. Then you will enjoy frequent cavity searches on international flights.

SO do your homework online at the website noted above. Your post mentions nothing about brand names so we should assume you are coloring inside the lines, best of luck in getting them home safely. By the Way, the Thai post is amazingly consistent and reliable, I am particularly impressed at their delivery of my US packages addressed in English. While not a single cab driver speaks any English at all, I am convinced that every Thai postman is fluent in ten or eleven languages.

[Kinter]

Not sure about fedex,but I used ups from los a few years ago. I had to fill in a list of what I was sending and the cost (they didn't want reciepts, just took my word for it). They sent me an e-mail the next day asking if I could come by the office again and pick up the few wrong kind of shirts that I accidently put in my 25kg box while I was sorting out my various shopping bags, whoops! But no problems really, and fair play to them for giving them back to me. Got a bill from imports in my home country about 2 months after arrival, only a few hundred euro on several grands worth of stuff. As long as they are non brand name t-shirts there will be no problem. I would think that any copies would have to be brought back in one's own bags, I imagine 100 or so t-shirts wouldln't take up much space. One of the wonderful things about coming to Thailand is the very little amount of baggage you need to arrive with.

Dunno if that helps you at all, but good luck with it all anyway.